§ Mr. Viggersasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list
(a) Working days lost by labour disputes: 1965–1974 Thousand 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 Milford Haven … … … — — — — — — — — — — London … … … … 4 43 256 27 64 209 16 256 42 12 Liverpool* … … … … 55 27 302 44 198 244 55 235 58 71 Southampton … … … — — 9 1 52 30 1 45 5 1 Medway … … … … 1 1 — — 1 5 — 10 — — Tees/Hartlepool … … … — — — 1 — 14 2 14 3 1 Immingham/Grimsby … … — — 1 4 — 62 10 12 2 9 Clyde … … … … 2 — — — 2 15 1 23 1 2 Manchester … … … 1 5 19 7 38 32 26 30 2 3 Forth … … … … — — — — 10 — 10 1 — Other Ports … … … … 42 58 19 30 66 98 61 125 40 23 Total working days lost … … 105 134 606 114 421 719 172 760 154 122 * Liverpool, Birkenhead, Bromborough, Garston and Widnes. —Less than 500 days.
(b) Traffic handled: 1965–1974 Million Tonnes 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 Milford Haven … … … 25 29 28 30 40 41 43 46 53 60 London … … … … 58 57 57 57 56 57 53 48 51 46 Liverpool* … … … … 32 31 29 30 29 29 32 27 27 28 Southampton … … … 24 25 27 28 29 28 28 29 29 28 Medway … … … … 22 26 26 27 26 27 23 27 27 25 Tees/Hartlepool … … … 12 11 12 19 22 23 22 23 26 25 Immingham/Grimsby … … 7 9 9 12 15 23 18 20 24 22 Clyde … … … … 12 11 11 13 13 15 17 15 17 17 Manchester … … … 15 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 Forth … … … … 8 8 7 8 8 8 9 10 10 10 Other Ports … … … … 89 86 88 85 84 85 88 91 97 91 Total traffic … … … 304 309 310 325 338 352 349 352 377 368 * Liverpool, Birkenhead, Bromborough and Garston. 18W
(c) Net surplus/(deficit): 1973 £'000 1973 Milford Haven … … … … 259 London … … … … … 1,521 Liverpool* … … … … … (4,353) Southampton … … … … 739 Medway … … … … … 252 Tees/Hartlepool … … … … 745 I mmingham/Grimsby … … … 1,327 Clyde … … … … … 1,277 Manchester … … … … 3,427 Forth … … … … … 805 * Liverpool and Birkenhead. in the Official Report the principal ports in the United Kingdom, distinguishing between National Dock Labour Scheme ports and others, and giving the best available figures in each of the last 10 years for each port in respect of (a) time lost by labour disputes, (b) traffic handled, and (c) profit or loss, respectively.
§ Dr. GilbertThere is no generally accepted definition of principal ports. The available data on the 10 largest ports, in terms of through-put tonnes in 1974, are shown below. These ports accounted for 75 per cent. of the total through-put for all ports in 1974, and, with the exception of Milford Haven, which is a specialised oil port, they are all in the National Dock Labour Scheme.